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Tempratech Self-Cooling Can
r.future writes "I saw on Gizmodo that a company called Tempratech has created an 100% safe and environmentally friendly aluminum can that uses a self-chilling process involving a cooling gel, desiccant, and heat sinks, to chill itself. The self-contained I.C. Can is the approximate size of a 500 mL beverage can. This includes the beverage container itself, and the integral self-chilling device, and according to Tempratech the can is 'proven to lower beverage temp by a minimum of 30 degrees Fahrenheit in only three minutes.'"
For those of us in the US:
Google has the conversion.
500 ml = 16.9070113 US fluid ounces
$ whois tempratech.com ... ...
d s/1ACV01/04.mp3
Tempra Technology Inc.
6140 15th Street East
Bradenton, FL 34203
US
Quick, someone in Bradenton order a pizza for I.C. Can, and send it to Tempratech!
http://www.gotfuturama.com/Multimedia/EpisodeSoun
I thought this was going to be from the Self-heating Soup can guys, but it's not.
This one seems a little more real (not a case study), as the company already has some temp technology products that are further along... Also, the Gizmodo link says it holds 10oz.
Its not going to be real easy to recycle now, is it? Or can they melt the whole thing down, desiccant and all? Seems unlikely.
Unless this new way off chilling doesn't significantly affect the price of a given can of soda, I don't see it going anywhere.
If it's bulkier and more expensive what incentive do people have for purchasing a drink stored in such a can?
In mother Russia, Can chills YOU! Hmm...
... but I want it now!
.
-- I care not for your foolish signatures.
Self-Chilling I.C. Can
(filed under gadgets) Speaking of cold beverages, Tempra Technology has developed the I.C. Can, a "100% safe and environmentally friendly" aluminum can that uses a self-chilling process involving a cooling gel, desiccant, and heat sinks. They claim to be able to drop the temperature of the 10-ounces of beverage inside by 30 degrees Fahrenheit in three minutes. It's pretty cool tech, but I can't help but wonder if it's all a bit convoluted. That doesn't mean I don't want to try one; unfortunately, Tempra is still looking for a partner to actually put a branded beverage inside. (Thanks, JEB!)
FROM THE MANUFACTURER'S WEBSITE:
Ingenious.
The I.C Can(TM) is the result of the solid partnership of Tempra Technology and Crown Cork & Seal, who are currently discussing commercialization and marketing of this self-chilling can to top beverage companies. Imagine: an icy cold beverage without refrigerated vending machines or bulky ice chests.
The world's first self-chilling can is finally here! It works. It's safe. And it's development is nearing completion now through the partnership of Tempra Technology and Crown Cork & Seal.
The advanced design utilizes the latest breakthroughs in thermal, insulating and vacuum heat pump technology. The self-contained I.C. Can(TM) is the approximate size of a 500 mL beverage can. This includes the beverage container itself, and the integral self-chilling device.
Proprietary engineering creates a temperature drop proven to reduce the I.C. Can's(TM) contents by a minimum of 30 Fahrenheit (16.7 C) in just minutes. When activated, the all natural desiccant contained within a vacuum draws the heat from the beverage through the evaporator into an insulated heat-sink container. It is this patented vacuum-power which lowers the temperature so dramatically and quickly, leaving the beverage inside cool and refreshing.
And it's safe! I.C. Can's(TM) innovative design is 100% safe and environ- mentally-friendly; easy to operate, store and transport. The self-contained I.C. Can(TM) uses no carbon dioxide, CFC, HFC, or any other compressed gases and is totally non-toxic, without risk of gas or vapor escape.
As Tempra Technology and Crown Cork & Seal continue to finalize development of the self-chilling I.C. Can(TM) for mass production, we'll also innovate new cutting-edge technologies for other applications in the beverage industry.
To learn more about the exciting - and very real - I.C. Can(TM), call 1-877-TEMPRA-1.
...that Coke Halliburton sent to Iraq was so expensive...
Seriously, which would you choose, a beverage that cost $1 which you had to refrigerate, or a beverage that costs $20 which you don't?
but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
For those of you NOT in the US:
30F = 16.66C
With the server slowing down under the load, maybe they'll be inspired to adapt the technology to a line of temporary high-intensity CPU heatsinks.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
I have a can that can not only keep cold things cold, it also keeps warm things warm.
What I haven't puzzled out yet is how on earth it knows which to do.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
And hopefully, it will cool better than 30 degrees Fahrenheit under more situations. Coke is probably best about a few degrees above the freezing point of the solution, maybe around ~35 degrees Fahrenheit. If you can cool a can only 35 degrees Fahrenheit, and room temperature when you want to drink is about 80 degrees, that Coke isn't going to be cold enough for me.
Heavier, bigger, cans.. More junk to be thrown away. (yes I know its alu, but not every can gets recycled).
Whats wrong with a good old micro-fridge? Or just hang your beer up in a damp sock for a while..
Seriously, I think its about time sales taxes were put on non-environmental packaging gimmicks like this, or maybe a refundable deposit like in South Australia..
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
Seriously, which would you choose, a beverage that cost $1 which you had to refrigerate, or a beverage that costs $20 which you don't?
If a 6 pack of beer cost $3.00 more, but was self-cooling and meant I didn't need to worry about keeping it cold, I'd pay for the convenience.
Nothing is worse than a warm beer when hunting or driving.
And it's safe! I.C. Can's(TM) innovative design is 100% safe and environ- mentally-friendly; easy to operate, store and transport. The self-contained I.C. Can(TM) uses no carbon dioxide, CFC, HFC, or any other compressed gases and is totally non-toxic, without risk of gas or vapor escape.
So you say now. Just wait until this whole thing spins out of control and the process begins making flesh-eating zombies out of millions of innocent people who just wanted some cold Bawlz.
"The power of the sun, in the palm of my hand."
Need I say more? Hmmph!
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
If you check out the temp chart, it takes up to 13 minutes to reach full-cold temp. That means it would get colder as I drink my soda or whatever. That would be rather odd....I'm used to drinks getting warmer!
Moo.
Yeah, it will also undoubtedly raise the beverage price in only 0 seconds!
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Good stuff.
Two fish swim into a wall, one turns to the other and says, "Dam".
Moe: Oh boy, my deep fryer's here. I got it used from the Navy. You could flash-fry a buffalo in 40 seconds.
Homer: 40 seconds? Aww, but I want it now.
Do not touch -Willie
This will be a great seller in places with strange beer laws. For some reason, alot of places around the country won't let you buy cold beer. This will bypass those old laws nicley.
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NSFWIt's called a Tinchilla :-)
I've been toying with building my own single can cooler that would be usable for any 12 oz beverage can. Most of those car "refrigerators" use peltier modules to cool, but spread the thermal action across 6-12 cans. I was going to order just the module kit (from a place like http://electronickits.com/kit/complete/peltier/ck5 00.htm) and have one of the metal fabricators posted here a couple of weeks ago fabricate an aluminum sleeve with a plate and connect that assembly to the peltier module instead of the larger plate that the normal coolers would. You'd end up with a monstrocity that would slide over a single can and cool it down pretty quickly.
A revised design would turn it upside down, with the heatsink underneath and exhaust fans to dump out the heat, giving you more of a can holder instead of a can "hat", which would be more easily integrated into things like home theater seating or just an attractive housing for setting on your desk.
The Glass is Too Big: My Take on Things
Pittsburgh Brewing Company manufacturers Iron City Light, known widely as IC Light. When I saw the can, that's the first thing I saw. I wonder if a fight will brew (pun intended) or if PBC will just do the typical thing and threaten a fight to get a sweet deal on the cans.
-- Fugacity: Confusing chemists since 1908
Overheard while in the UK:
Why do Americans keep their beer cold?
So they can tell it apart from piss.
How fast can you safely cool a carbonated soft drink? Seriously, there is a limit, but I'm not sure what it is.
You see, I once had a warm 12-pack of Dr. Pepper in the kitchen, and 20 liters of liquid nitrogen in the garage, and I was thirsty... anyway, I had the sense to only try one can at a time, and I opened the can first. Only took a few seconds to get it cooled down to a slushy consistency, but in the process half of the Dr. Pepper came foaming and frothing out the top of the can, ran down the sides, and froze into a solid block of carbonated foam.
The end result was drinkable, but a bit wasteful and really messy. Perhaps next time I'll just try the dry ice, but I really don't think the heat transfer rate is going to be enough.
Dead serious. Several places in Mississippi have such laws. An area of Indiana allowed stores to sell cold beer, as long as they didn't sell gas as well. I too live in a state that doesn't allow liquor sales in grocery stores. There are alot of counties here in MS that are totally dry. Needless to say there are large sales of liquor at the places that border those counties.
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NSFWThey are not saying they cool it *to* 30 degrees F, they are saying *by* 30 degrees F. Dropping the temp by about 30 degrees farenheit is dropping by about 16.7 degrees celsius.
If it worked your way, the can would get colder measuring by farenheit, but get hotter measuring by celsius...
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
The aluminum can be recycled, but it's those little heat-sinks that are going to be the problem. Where are they going to put all the heat that has been sucked out and stored in the insulated heat-sinks?
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1) The desiccant volatilizes in the melt during recycling. A number of compounds come to mind. Ammonium nitrate (yes, THAT ammonium nitrate) is used in cold packs for athletic purposes, and decomposes at 250 C into water and N2O (nitrous oxide, or laughing gas). At about 300 C, it decomposes into other, less desirable oxides of nitrogen, and water.
2) As the reaction itself is inspired by the introduction of water, the "desiccant" must be water soluble; you get an endothermic reaction as it dissolves. Anyway- I don't know too much about recycling these days, but I've seen cans go into chippers so they can be blown into the back of a semi truck to go to the recycling plant. One would assume that at some point, those chips get washed before they get re-melted. Otherwise, carmelized sugar and other gunk left on the inside of the cans- even in tiny amounts, multiplied by many cans- would cause more problems than it's worth.
The production of steel from recycled stock requires only 24% of the energy required to produce it from iron ore. Aluminum recycling takes only 5% of the energy required to produce aluminum from bauxite. Plastic should be recycled because, when dumped, it leaches chemicals into the environment.
The fact that a bunch of backwoods libertarians think recycling is a loss is because classic property-rights libertarians are, for whatever reason, totally incapable of valuing externalities such as pollution and future production.
Self-cooling cans have been around (in prototype form, at least) for years now. The problem seems to have been the environmental impact. The innovation fro Tempratech seems to be more in their specific, non-damanging (in theory) technology. Article on self-cooling cans from 2001.
I just learned that for news on cans, ain't nowhere better than CanTechOnline.
Welcome to Oklahoma, where beer over 3.2% alcohol is only sold warm, and only in liquor stores.
3.2 or less beer is sold everywhere, and cold. Interestingly, it's legally classified as a non-intoxicating beverage.
Sure, it takes at least 4 to get started, but it'll drunk you up eventually. Y'just get worn out with all those trips to the pisser.
'Swhy I brew my own.
And you, madam, are very ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.
And for those of us outside the US, can is slang for a urinal. So this company produced a self cooling urinal, cause you know how slippery those things can get when you've been sitting on it for a while and start sweating.
Although I'm not sure how the heck you sit on a urinal the size of a 500mL beverage.... oh.
Folks, I could be wrong here.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
Do you really want MORE Budweiser in the can?
Mmmmmm... Fin Du Monde.
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
I am not going to pay any extra for a can when you already get a sufficient cooling from the forming of Carbon Dioxide.
Within a couple of minutes of opening a standard can of drink, it cools several degrees, and when you pick it up to drink it, the even larger forming of CO2 that you get from pouring it into your mouth and having it react with your saliva is enough to make it cold.
fluid ounces are different from dry ounces. One is a unit of volume, another is a unit of force (force equals mass times acceleration).
And anyway, it's a pint of milk that's a pound, but that obviously differs with the temperature and fat content of the milk (density varies with both).
"A pint's a pound, the world around...if by this mnemonic you mean to remember that there are 16 units called 'ounces' in each, although the actual dimension being measured is different, and if by 'world' you mean 'United States of America and its territories.'" But that's a really long thing to remember.
Oh, go on, check out my job.
In any cooling system, the heat removed from the stuff being cooled is more than compensated for by heat somewhere else. You know, laws of thermodynamics and all that.
So the question is, when this device activates to chill the beverage, what is it that gets hot?
Energy must be conserved, but nothing necessarily has to get hot, at least in the short term. If you put you can into an ice/water bath, the can will cool down, and the temperature of the ice/water bath will not change.
In general, you are correct; you can't cool something down without warming something up, but there are ways to buffer this chemically so that the cooling and the warming don't have to happen at the same time. In my example, the warming already happened, back when the ice was made (the coils of the refrigerator warmed up).
The problem with recycled plastic is that it ends up costing more to use than regular plastic, so there's little demand, and so many municipalities require recycling, so there's an enormous supply. It's a horrible business to be in, and if even one of the wrong kinds of plastic bottle gets into your plastic resin, you can ruin an entire batch. If the price of oil skyrocketed, things would be different, but as it is some municipalities sneak their plastic recyclables into landfills, just to save money.
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Right, but although the ice/water temperature is staying constant, the ice is melting, therefore the entropy is increasing.
When I first read the story it didn't occur to me that they could be using a chemical process. In that case, the heat extracted from the soda is transformed into chemical potential energy. But entropy still had to increase, back in the factory where the chemical agent was first manufactured.
That's not really true - in an icewater bath, the differentiation in temperature is dispersed throughout the bath (= a larger volume), so the overall change for the entire bath is very very small, but it does in fact still exist.
Incorrect. It doesn't matter what the volume is, so long as there is both ice and water present. It's analogous to the way that you can't increase the temperature of a boiling water bath above 100 C by turning up the fire (ignoring transient local changes). All of the energy goes into the state change and the temperature remains constant.
Yes, but we're not talking about a state change here, at least not for the liquid water. The ice does go through a state change in order to transition to liquid water, but the liquid water has to get from 0 C to 100 C, and it does so, but in this case it does so very, very slowly because of the dispersal of the thermodynamic change.
The state change is from solid water (ice) to liquid water. All of the energy goes into converting ice to water, so the temperature of the bath does not change.
The problem with rapid cooling of carbonated drinks is that the solubility of CO2 in water decreases at low temperatures. And at high temperatures, the rate of de-sorption increases, just for kicks. It's a wonder any stays in the water at all.
Anyway, the ideal aim for speed cooling is to drop the temperature down to 'cold but drinkable' as rapidly as possible. Going below that temperature is as bad as not going cold enough.
As you noted, you need to get a rate of cooling such that the rate that gas is forced out of the drink is sufficently low.
What, then, is the rate of cooling? Well, it turns out (insert handwave here) that the rate of heat flow is determined by the difference in temperature. To a first approximation *handwave*, then, we can asses the rate of cooling by the temperature difference between drink and cooling medium.
Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is at 77 K. Room temperature is 298 K, giving a temperature difference of 220 K [0]. For comparison, the temperature difference between ice and room temperature (the annoyingly warm temperature soft drinks tend to be at) is 25 K. Thus we can consider that the rate of cooling from liquid nitrogen is about 10 times faster than from ice [1].
How long does it take to cool a soft drink with ice? Well, in my experience, about 20 seconds for around 330ml, with gentle agitation (i.e. a quick stir, or pouring over the ice). Thus the 'few seconds' the poster give for LN2 to hit freezing point is qualitativly correct [2].
The temperature of dry ice is 195 K, which gives around 125 K difference [3], thus an initial cooling rate around 5 times the heat transfer rate of ice, and half that of LN2. It's not quite, because thermal contact is better with the other two cases (liquid - solid interface, versus solid - solid for the dry ice [4]).
You could put the dry ice in the drink, or the LN2 in the drink. The problem with that is that if you drop the cold material in the drink, it might sink under the surface, flash freeze the surrounding liquid, and then turn to gas. This risks the ice exploding (and is more of an issue for dry ice than LN2).
The simplest way to avoid these problems is use enough coolant to get your drink down to ideal temperature, so that the whole mass of liquid will not freeze, always leaving a path for gas escape.
How much is that? Well, an estimate may be made as follows: If we assume that the coolant material are at the temperature of boiling/sublimation as appopriate, then the total energy absorbed per unit mass will be equal to the apporiate latent heat [5]. This allows a calculation of the mass required, if the total energy tobe removed from the drink is known.
If we assume [6] that the specific heat capacity (amount of heat energy taken to change the temperature of a substance) of the drink is equal to that of water, that gives a value of 4.2 kJ K-1 kg-1. Further, we assume that it's density is also equal to that of water, so that 1ml equals 1 g.
The appropriate specific latent heats for our coolants are: 199 kJ kg-1 for nitrogen and, surprisingly, 199 kJ kg-1 for CO2. I think that that great cosmic coincidence is proof that this sort of calculation is intended to occur.
Thus, to remove 25 K from 330ml of water, we need to remove 20 * 330 * 4.2 J = 27.7 kJ, if we take the desirable temperature of the drink to be 5 degrees centigrade. That's about 140 grammes of coolant.
The density of solid CO2: 1562 kg/
I've never been very comfortable with disposable technology, reguardless of environmental ramifications or lack thereof. Hell, I'm still not comfortable with write-once media like CD-Rs, and even when I'm forced to use one I try to put as much information as possible on them to avoid wasting potential storage space.
So I see something like this, and just... no. I don't see myself willingly using it. If the refrigeration technology is so efficient, clean and/or inexpensive, put it into a reusable cooler instead of the disposable cans. You'd get the added benefits of economy of scale (both in price and refrigeration) and it won't be such a pain in the ass to dismantle the cans to recycle them.
Or am I the only crazy person who cares?
In general, you are correct; you can't cool something down without warming something up, but there are ways to buffer this chemically so that the cooling and the warming don't have to happen at the same time. In my example, the warming already happened, back when the ice was made (the coils of the refrigerator warmed up).
Not quite -- When you cool your warm can of soda (pop whatever) in the tub of ice the tub of ice does get warmer! Just not very much warmer.
Mother nature always balances her checkbooks you know. The tub of ice took on exactly the same amount of heat that the can gave up. 'Cause it takes so much more heat to raise the tub of ice one degree than it does the can of soda you don't notice the change in the temperature of the tub of ice.
A good book you ought to check out would be Instant Physics by Tony Rothman. It won't make a physicist out of a layman, but it's one of the best introductory texts I've found.
Required reading for internet skeptics
This risks the ice exploding (and is more of an issue for dry ice than LN2).
Exploding Ice? Now That's an experiment I want to work on!
- Jonathan
I recall seeing this idea on the "The Inventors", which screened on Australian TV in the early 1970's. Clive Hale was the host from memory. Being an Australian invention, it was pitched as a self-cooling beer can.
I'd like to try one out, but the 10oz deal kinda sucks, since 12oz cans are the norm. I also buy my beer in the 24oz, besides the 12oz.
Another cooler that I've been using for years is made by LIFOAM of Canada Inc out of Toronto. It's called "The Fridge" drink cooler. Just toss them in you're freezer, and after they freeze they're good to go...just insert cold brew... keeps them good and cold for hours. Walmart and Kmart sell them, + a few other places I'd imagine. (just a happy consumer)
Life was hell, then I discovered Linux...
I'd just like to add that my own practical experience and "experiments" from my own parties. Dry ice is an excellent additive to drinks. I can pick up a pretty big block of dry ice at my local icecream-truck supply store for $10 or $20.
:) And interestingly when high proofage drinks start to freeze they tend to produce a rather nice super-chilled slushy state :) rather than freezing directly into a solid.
:)
There is a problem with your calculations though, the heat transfer is far lower than you think. The dry ice instantaneously vaporizes on contact with the beverage producing an insulating gas barrier. It maintains virtually zero contact between the beverage and the dry-ice. One small dry-icecube ends up chilling a drink at about the same rate as one or two large icecubes, though obviously it has the ability to eventually chill it much farther.
Don't forget about the signifigantly lower freezing point for high proofage alcohol/water mixtures
Virtually everyone has seen the dry-ice-in-water effect on TV and movies. Any time you see a supposed science lab with with beakers and tubing and colored liquids with white "boiling" bubbles and smoke coming off the top, well that's a chunk of dry ice at the bottom making the bubbles. The white smoke is invisible CO2 loaded with condensed water vapor - basicly an artificial cloud.
Serving "boiling" ice-cold and smoking drinks at a party is an easy way for a geek to pick up some pretty neat "mad scientist" cred. It impresses both other geeks and the 'normals'
And to repeat his disclaimer, DRY ICE CAN BE DANGEROUS!
The freeze-burn danger is comparable to the heat-burn danger of boiling water. ALWAYS WEAR HEAVY GLOVES WHEN HANDLING DRY ICE OR LN2! Always treat them with at least as much respect as you would treat boiling water or boiling oil!
You can drink "boiling" drinks with dry ice chips at the bottom, but DO NOT LET THE DRY ICE TOUCH YOUR MOUTH OR ANY OTHER EXPOSED SKIN. Swallowing dry ice would be very very bad both because of the freeze-burn risk and the fact that it will continute to produce large volumes of CO2 gas which will build up quite a bit pressure inside your stomach.
An extra issue is that in enclosed spaces CO2 gas or N2 gas can displace oxygen. CO2 isn't much of a threat in that way because even moderately elevated CO2 levels will trigger an intense cough reflex and you *will* involuntarily step away to clear air. However in a closed and unventliated area N2 gas could build up undetected. It is only an issue in an unusual and enclosed area, but you could unexpectedly pass out and asphyxiate. Never store or use LN2 except in a well ventilated area.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
I bought a couple of self cooling kegs in Germany. Their device? Compressed air. All you did was release the valve, and the escaping pressurised air surrounding the beer inside reduced the temperature. Really neat, even if you only got 20 L in a keg.
I wonder if this could be applied to the cans. They'd probably be 20 lb or something. Guess I'll just have to keep buying kegs.
if(!toilet_paper) roll.replace(new roll);